Performance Piece

For my Performance piece, I chose the speech which I presented this year at the Irving

Transportation Summit. Danyal and I are going to present this speech to you, the speech that we

have dedicated to our design model for the Old Stadium aka the Diamond Interchange. As

winners of the competition, we were asked to describe our speech to a panel of 300 professionals

at the Irving Convention Center. The content area of challenge was public speaking: a skill hat I

am quite used to by now, but a panel of 300 people was a completely different scenario. This

speech is the evidence to demonstrate my growth at public speaking.

During this time of last year, I heard news about the Irving Transportation Summit. Mr.

Flores briefed us about some details of this competition, and I really became interested in it. We

were challenged to come up with plans for the former stadium site in Irving. Over the summer,

we spent about seven sessions at The Study USA with professionals and mentors from all around

the city. We consulted with engineers, designed with architects, and finally produced a re-design

plan for our project. The final round consisted of three teams and our team emerged as winners.

To master our presentation skills, we rehearsed it in front of one another over and over

again to match our time limit. We came up with a concise script that lasted five minutes: a

challenge for us to describe the model which took us months to make. Also, we consulted with

our mentors who helped us to improve our presentation. Based on their feedback, we made

corrections to our speech (such as changing the content, condensing broad ideas, adding more

visuals) and then delivered it in front of the judging panel. This rehearsal helped me gain more

confidence while speaking in public (as I do not like to be the center of attention). These skills

benefit me in numerous ways. As I want to become an engineer, I may have to deliver speeches

in front of other team members to elaborate on my plans to build structures. Also, while
engaging in different community activities, we have to speak to the audience to inspire them to

engage in community service.

In conclusion, the speech helped me to build self-confidence and inspired me to speak

more fluently in public. This speech was a stepping stone for me to explore the professional

world ahead of me, giving me a glimpse of how professionals detail their design plans to their

audience. By focusing on public speaking strategies, I was able to overcome my shyness and

deliver the speech successfully.